Besides taking an axe to the cooling system on the roof of his four-story building on Central Boulevard, the burglars hacked apart a large dish antenna for its aluminum tubing. After being hit the second time, Fowler hired a security guard to sit on the roof every night until he got the fence up.

Our radio sites in Africa have armed guards posted 24/7 - didn't realise we had to employ the same tactics in Hampshire! Have you gat any more information on that?_________________PowerSwitch on Facebook | The Oil Drum | Twitter | Blog

Usually operating at night, they have been tearing up miles of copper wire running along rail tracks.

The wire is used to carry information for automatic signalling and safety equipment.
...
Near Turin, police discovered a clandestine factory allegedly used for recycling the metal ready for export.
...
In Naples, police recently seized dozens of sea containers filled with stolen copper coils parked in the port area ready for shipment to China.

There are certainly a lot of news reports involving copper theft at present - all of those listed below were written today. The first one is particularly relevant, as it involves the theft of copper from a windfarm!

In various areas of the world, copper thefts seem to be affecting telephone networks, rail transport, wind farms, street lights, air conditioning units (yay!), copper piping in homes and businesses (those in use as well as abandoned).

I wonder what will happen with roof mounted solar panels and wind turbines in future - given that people are breaking into air conditioning units on houses to make $20.

High copper prices are being blamed for sparking an increase in the thefts of copper wiring from the Altamont Wind Resource Area.

Wind company operators and Alameda County investigators say trespassing and thefts are on the rise, with thieves stealing the copper electrical cables used to operate the 54-hundred windmills in the area.

Authorities say copper is in big demand in the scrap metal business now because prices soared throughout most of the year.

An investigator with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department says the department is working to help prosecute several people suspected to be involved in copper thefts.

The department is also investigating other incidents of metal theft at the wind farm.

A man and woman were arrested on grand theft charges for allegedly stealing copper wiring from some of the 750 street lights that have been darkened in the city as thieves have cashed in on high scrap metal prices.

The warm weather this week may have tempted you to turn on your air conditioning, but thieves are hoping you won't. There's a new copper crime spree hitting Hutchinson, and it may have some homeowners sweating this summer.

Hutch police say thieves have been targeting homes either up for sale or abandoned for copper in their air conditioners. In about ten minutes thieves can cut the lines and get the coils.

Homeowners end up having to buy new units. That can cost more than a thousand dollars. The thieves only get about $20 for the copper.

Usually operating at night, they have been tearing up miles of copper wire running along rail tracks.

The wire is used to carry information for automatic signalling and safety equipment.
...
Near Turin, police discovered a clandestine factory allegedly used for recycling the metal ready for export.
...
In Naples, police recently seized dozens of sea containers filled with stolen copper coils parked in the port area ready for shipment to China.

Yes, you spotted my deliberate omission. I really didn't want this to be about Romanians! However, now we're on the subject... I guess at the moment the profits to be made from stealing and stripping down copper cables are only economically attractive to those who are already living in society's margins. Will this change though?

It's happening a lot up here, has been for years. Councils are forced to board up any empty property within about 3 days or people break in and strip out anything they can sell. Old floorboards, copper pipe, boilers, etc. etc. Anything to get £20 and a fix to get through to another day. In this society that's where the margins are._________________Alice

Two weeks ago thieves attached a vehicle to the lightning conductor on the next villages church steeple. They made off with £70 worth of copper but pulled off the top of the spire in the attempt causing £35,000 worth of damage which probably will never get repaired as there are no funds.

Electrical substations are very vulnerable and challenging to secure against thieves with cutting plant._________________"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"

In old Transylvania every village had a fine golden cup on display in the village square and it was never stolen, but that was under the reign of vlad the impaler now likely things have changed with modern liberal ways soft on crime soft on the causes of crime ie criminals .

If a cup was stolen vlad would impale everyone in the village so most villages strangled possible thieves, we fine them or put them through a court system and they wax strong in their criminal ways, and we feel sorry for them

It will just get worse, wouldn't happen in Saudi steal hand off keep stealing head off_________________"What causes more suffering in the world than the stupidity of the compassionate?"Friedrich Nietzsche

Thieves scavenging metal to sell for scrap have targeted vital flood defences in Doncaster twice in a month. Essential parts were stolen from Bentley Ings pumping station, which drains a large part of the town. The Environment Agency has beefed up security at the pumping station since the latest theft this week but on each occasion repairing the damage and replacing the stolen components has been an expensive job.